Casting Lines
by short-macchiato
Summary: Follow Eponine, Enjolras and their friends through childhood, adolescence and adulthood as they navigate the minefield that is life, and all the confusion, passion and tragedy that comes with it. ExE and MxC Modern AU
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, here is a new story of mine, which basically follows the lives of Eponine, Enjolras (closely) and Cosette, Marius, Jehan, Courfeyrac and Combeferre's in the background. It is set on the Hamilton Isles which is a fictional island situated in the Hamptons but more closely resembling a beachside town than a luxurious metropolis. There are two instalments per chapter, and there are two years between instalments, enjoy :)

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_**i **__. __**When they were five**_

She was a true child of the Hamilton Isles, unlike those halftime holiday makers whose four wheel drives would dust up the road and take up all the space on the beach. She could never understand those holidaymakers, who would claim a patch of sand and not move from it for the rest of the day, and from the hills she could watch the other children as they ran away from the water just before the waves crashed onto the shore.

No, she was a true child of the seaside, her hair was long and wild, her feet calloused and with every step she took, there would be a trail of sand behind her. And when she dived from the cliffs into the deep blue water, waves crashed around her, welcoming her home. For she had seen the Hamptons bare, in the deep of winter, when the beach is deserted and the sand crashes into your skins like pins.

She was there when the winds would change, so suddenly from a warm caress to a cold and bitter breeze and she would watch as a few days later those four wheel drives would dust up the dirt path which ran through the centre of town. She was there when the silence returned, when most of the shops were closed and the town emptied. That was the real Hamilton Isle, her Hamilton Isles.

That would be when she would run through the yards of those abandoned houses which never truly became homes. It was when she would go diving into their pools and wonder why they would own such a device when the ocean was practically at their doorstep. And then there was the beach, those patches of sand were exclusively off limits during the summer but hers and hers only when the winds had changed.

But she was not one of them, one of those half-time holidaymakers for she had seen the Hamilton Isles bare, without the guise of it's people and it's luxury. For she lived in a small home atop the diner, but a home nonetheless. And their home was almost falling apart, window panes rotten and garden overflowing due to the lack of weekly butlers, cleaners and gardeners. However the diner was always looking perfect. It was an old building, one of the oldest in town probably dating back to before prohibition era. The diner looked out of place in the sea side town resembling more a mid-western saloon than an east coast diner but it had character and was a Hamilton Isles staple.

It was her parent's diner, with the ground floor for customers and the upstairs as offices and living space. Whilst their home was in a state of permanent disarray the diner was a real town beauty and as a result, one of the most popular eateries throughout the summer. It was what kept them going, and they threw their whole lives into it. Being on the coast it was impossible to not offer seafood as one of the staples on the menu. For that reason her father would rise early every morning go out into his tiny tin boat and bring back the best haul of fish on the island. It was her mother's job to cook it.

She loved her mother's food, mainly because it was all the same and all she had ever known. During the summer especially, the diner was always full and therefore the food must be needed to be amazing.

You see, it was at the diner where she first saw them, that boy with hair so blond it was almost white and his friend who was what she always imagined goldilocks would look like. Then there was another boy, with brown hair but much lighter than their own. They have colouring books, and a huge tin full of what she thought was hundreds of pencils and all she could do was watch on longingly at all those pencils and imagine how lifelike the ocean would look if she had all those colours at her disposal.

She was broken from her daydream by the girl, goldilocks, who introduced herself as Cosette and offered a chair at their table.

"I am just so happy to finally have another girl around!" she smiled, talking like someone decades older.

Eponine smiled back, and took a chip.

"Whatever Cosette are you happy now? Can you finally stop complaining about being overruled." The boy with the dark hair spoke up.

"I was always being excluded!"

"It's a a- democracy" the blond boy viciously bit into a chip.

"And now we are equal."

It was the first summer Eponine spent out of the confines of the cafe. Together they would race down the sand dunes letting the sand burn their knees.

She began to learn the little things about them. How Marius, the boy with the brown hair's grandparents would not let them into the house with sand still on their feet, and how his home, is something of a castle, it's grand interior was something out of a storybook. She didn't know Enjolras' parents, she had never seen them, but he was always the first at every daily outing and always saw everyone back to their respective homes before darting off in the direction of his. By walking them home she meant he would stare at the ground with his hands stuffed in his pockets as he walked her back to the diner. He always declined when she offered him chips in thanks.

And then there was Cosette, who Eponine's mother had taken to calling "a little ray of sunshine". Everyday she would bound through the cafe before opening the door and collecting Eponine. Together they would run down to the beach, Cosette would wade in the shallows too afraid to go deeper while Eponine would scale rocks and cliff faces looking for the perfect place to dive. Occasionally Enjolras - never one to be outdone by others - would climb up, and eventually they were able to convince Marius too, but never Cosette, she preferred to watch on in horror, hoping the boys parents could not see them.

That summer seemed both eternal and cut short, if that was even possible, she was sure she had gained, had lived a life time's worth of memories in just a few weeks.

On one of their last night's together, Cosette's father let them drag spare mattresses onto the balcony, so that they could sleep under what appeared to be an sapphire sky, watching the stars and deciding if they could see animals in the constellations.

It was only once the boys were asleep that Cosette leaned over to Eponine, eyes wide with wonder "are you a mermaid?"

Gosh those city kids were strange.

Though soon the wind changed and she began to feel that familiar cold breeze on her shoulders. Within days her friends were gone, their huge cars rumbled through the main street. And all Eponine could do was watch, face pressed against the glass window of her parent's diner as the cars passed by.

Marius was first, in his grandparent's silver car he waved briefly, holding up his new Gameboy his grandparents presented to him that morning in an attempt to keep him quiet for the car ride back to the city. He was followed out by Cosette and Monsieur Fauchelevent, both of whom wound down their windows and waved at Eponine, promising to see her soon, and she believed they would.

Enjolras was the last to leave. It was then that Eponine realised that she had never even seen his parents, or his home in the months that she had known him. In fact, even as a five year old Enjolras was a mystery. There was a serious looking man in the front seat, staring directly out the window whilst Enjolras gave her a small wave before turning his eyes forward, in an attempt to mirror the same serious attitude as his father and then like the rest of them he too was gone. She watched as her view of the white car faded into nothing more than a dust cloud, and soon the dust cloud cleared revealing nothing more that that deserted gravel road leading to town.

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_**ii.**_ _**When they were seven**_

By the time that they were seven, all those city kids were so absorbed into their city lives that they thought it was high time that they brought some of the city back to the Hamilton Isles for Eponine to see, and at first she absolutely hated it.

For the weeks leading up to their arrival (Eponine never quite knew the exact day but she knew it was sometime in July) she would watch eagerly from the windows of the diner, hoping to see their familiar troupe of cars appearing at the end of the gravel road. Enjolras arrived first as his family always did, he looked straight ahead in the same serious manner as his father did, there was a boy in the back seat, though she could barely see more that a tuft of light hair, his head was buried so far in a book. She watched as the car rumbled down the main street, then up into the cliffs and eventually out of sight, she knew everyone would following in the next few hours.

Cosette and her lovely father arrived second, as they so often did, and once the car passed the diner, Cosette lept out of the car with a friend and pulled Eponine into a warm hug. Monsieur Fauchelevent told Cosette and her friend to behave before continuing up the road and out of sight. Cosette had changed in the past year, her hair was longer, she was taller and her eyes seemed bluer, though Eponine was not quite sure if she was imagining it or not. Cosette said the exact same thing as Eponine was thinking and for a moment in that conversation, they both felt incredibly grown up. Cosette showed Eponine photographs of her in her school uniform, a long dress, old hat and a dressy jacket which made Cosette seem even more mature in Eponine's mind. Apparently school in the city was amazing, and that it was girls only and everyone dresses the same, Eponine thought it was strange.

Eventually she remembered to introduce her friend Jehan to Eponine. He had freckles, flaming red hair, lived next door to Cosette and went to school with Enjolras and Marius. Apparently his house was the best for sleepovers and his bedroom was jungle themed. Both Cosette and Jehan bonded over the film Tarzan (hence the bedroom design) whilst Eponine herself preferred Beauty and The Beast. Jehan was staying at Cosette's holiday home for the summer and brought his Disney film collection which made it incredibly difficult to actually get to the beach, because the fictional world was always so much better than reality - at least at that age it was.

Eventually Enjolras joined them with his friend Combeferre who was known to Cosette (because their schools were next door to each other) but not to Eponine. She immediately liked Combeferre but she was not quite sure why, as a seven year old, she didn't quite have the vocabulary to articulate that a certain air of stuffiness, (which she had become used to from both Enjolras and Marius) was noticeably absent for Combeferre. He loved books, especially the Harry Potter series and gave the Sorcerer's Stone to Eponine just a few days to read as well. They spent much of the summer imagining they were Harry and Hermione and trying to convince one of the other boys to be Ron, however they were largely unsuccessful.

Eponine would dive off cliffs, grazing the ocean floor picking up rocks they would claim were the Philosopher's Stone. They would grind down flowers, add a pinch of ocean water, some dirt and sand to make a potion they would then try to convince Courfeyrac (one of Marius' friends) to drink it. Some times they would throw rocks into the air and turn them into birds and when Enjolras saw them he would roll his eyes and sigh loudly, and they would quietly conclude that he was most definitely Draco Malfoy.

Marius was the last to arrive, as he so often was, with another boys in the car with him. His grandfather was gripping the steering wheel looking like he was about to kill someone whilst his grandmother had her eyes closed and was rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache - it had obviously been a very long car ride. As soon as they saw the kids running out of the diner the car immediately stopped and the three boys poured out, much to the relief of Marius' grandparents who immediately drove up the hill and out of sight.

Marius hadn't changed much over the year, he brought a friend with him, Courfeyrac, whose parents were good friends with Enjolras' parents and went to school with everyone else.

For a while there Eponine didn't like these intruders, these people who made her feel like she was on the outer again. The only one who made her feel like she was part of anything was Combeferre. Jehan was always spending time with Cosette, Courfeyrac was with Marius and Enjolras just seemed all too content to be by himself. She had already predicted those who would not be able to handle the Hamilton Isles - Jehan was burned to a crisp after one day in the beach and Courfeyrac felt sick one day after swallowing too much sea water. However as the weeks continued she began to getting used to being woken up by the sound of all of them knocking on the diner's door, and the permanent sound of screaming which seemed to accompany those boys everywhere.

It was as if being in a pack amplified each other their personalities (and voices). The shy boys she was used to were all of a sudden adventurous, scaling cliffs and diving for shells alongside her and she grew to become part of their pack, and she loved it. That summer she was an explorer, a mermaid, a magician and loved the way their screaming laughter would pierce the tranquil seaside.

That was until Marius' grandparents got sick of all the sand the kids brought into the house, they were practically shedding sand and the cleaning staff could simply not keep up with it. And so for the last two weeks of that summer they were explorers from that strange pool in Marius' backyard, there were no cliffs to scale but there was a water slide, so it wasn't all that bad.

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_Thank you for reading and please remember that comments and constructive criticism is always appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2

_**iii. When they were ten**_

It was in her tenth year at The Hamilton Isles that things began to change. Yes, things had always been changing in some sort of continuous cycle but it was in her tenth year that the world around her, and everything that she had known was completely shattered. It was a strange summer that year, in fact, it did not even feel like summer and Eponine was not sure if her city friends would even make the trip up to the seaside that year as it felt like winter rather than summer. Though it wasn't like Eponine minded, after all she had always preferred winter by the ocean - according to her, summer was so overrated.

It was around this time when the OC started on TV and the Hamilton Isles were steadily getting busier as people started looking for holiday homes by the beach. Eponine's parently loved this because it brought in so much business for the restaurant however, now the seaside was busy even in winter, all Eponine wanted was the tranquil island she loved most back.

Surprisingly, their whole cluster of friends - all six of them - returned for this strange, strange summer. It poured and hailed for weeks on end and the main road turned to sludge, colouring all those white four wheel drives a strange brown-yellow colour. Whenever they would go for walks through the street, they would return home so muddy that even Monsieur Fauchelevent would make them hose off outside before allowing them to enter the home.

So really, it was a strange summer that year, characterised by hot chocolate and Mean Girls and A Cinderella Story, where they discovered that those boys love "chick flicks" and where they concluded that Courfeyrac would make the best Regina George out of all of them. Rather than take offense, Courfeyrac wore it as a badge of honour. They divided their time up between each person's residence.

At Eponine's they would clumsily run food and drinks out to customers trying not to spill Monsieur Thenardier Hot Fish Soup on customers and Eponine taught them all how to pour beer and make the best hot chocolates that they had ever had. Though her parents did not like to admit it, they absolutely hated having all those children running around the restaurant, not because they were loud (or because having them "work" there was illegal) but because they were messy. The coffee machines were permanently covered in chocolate powder and the floor around the pass was sticky from all the spilled tomato sauce.

Though one thing Eponine's mother did love about having the children there was watching the group's dynamics. It was immediately decided amongst them that Courfeyrac would be in charge of front of house and that Enjolras would run the pass (which Madame Thenardier found absolutely hilarious). Courfeyrac would put on his best attempt at being a charming ten year old and Enjolras would ring the bell continuous at the pass until one of the "waiters" would appear. Eponine remembers her parents laughing and calling Enjolras "A young Marco Pierre White" though at the time, she did not quite realise how uncanny the similarities were. At the end of the week, the Thenardiers gave each child ten dollars, which at the time seemed incredible as they ran down the road and spent it all at the lolly store.

When they weren't at spilling food at the Thenardier's diner they were at Marius' home because Marius had a nintendo and for ten year olds that was their version of owning a ferrari. They broke down into teams teams of three with one person sitting out each session. They all had their favourite characters, Jehan loved Yoshi whilst Enjolras and Combeferre were always Mario and Luigi respectively. Cosette always chose Princess Peach while Eponine, Courfeyrac and Marius would then distribute the remaining characters between them, largely indifferent to whether they were "good" or "evil". It was Marius who had a hidden talent for Mario Kart, actually when Eponine thought about it, perhaps it was not so much a talent as it was improvement from constant practice - the game as his after all! He would win every match with perfectly placed bananas and perfectly timed turtles. After a while, Cosette got sick of all the losing, throwing her controller down and demanding his controller and character. It was then that Marius folded his arms across his chest and repeated the phrase his older cousins would say to him whenever he complained in the same way "it's not the controller or the character that is bad, rather it s the player" which made everyone but Cosette laugh.

At Cosette's they would play board games, which now seems a little archaic but at the time they actually enjoyed, even if it was no where near as good as Mario Kart. But you see, the problem with the nintendo was that it was at Marius' home and all the fighting and yelling that came along with it gave Marius' grandmother a migraine. So it was to Cosette's where they would play Monopoly (Marius' favourite) which they never actually finished, Cluedo; which was Eponine's favourite and always exciting - she would always choose to me Scarlett, Pictionary, the game where everyone hoped to be on Jehan's team, they never got far because they would waste all their time "debating" over whether Combeferre's bee looked like a bee or a cat. And then there was scrabble, the game everyone but Enjolras hated which Monsieur Fauchelevent insisted they play at least twice a week for "education purposes". Enjolras would always win, one time he placed "zealous" on a triple word score which for a ten year old was pretty impressive.

On the odd day when there was some sun they would make their way down to the beach. The ocean itself was too choppy and dangerous to swim in but they would play soccer on the beach, only daring to run into the water when the ball was accidentally kicked there. Marius' grandparent's told them all that if they were to go swimming it was to be in the pools and not in the ocean as it was far too dangerous. However now they were ten, and the pool was far too boring and the World Cup was that year which meant all of the boys were dreaming of one day being soccer player. After two of the Pontmercy's windows were broken (They blamed Jehan's poor goalkeeping abilities) it was decided that soccer could only be played on the beach.

And so the children played until there was no more light and they could see Monsieur Fauchelevant shouting from his balcony to come back inside.

It was on a cold yet sunny day, they were playing soccer on the beach when a stray kick from Combeferre went deep into the water. They all rolled their eyes because Combeferre had immense power in his kicks, but unfortunately lacked direction and shouted at Courfeyrac whose turn it was to retrieve the ball before it floated away.

Courfeyrac was a decent swimmer who had the tendency to look like he was drowning as he swam. So when he took longer than usual to return back to the shore no one bothered to glance out and see how he was going or what was taking him so long, and as they joked and laughed they could not hear Courfeyrac yelling for help. It was only when Eponine notice Enjolras straighten up, his eyes darting far beyond the group when she too looked out into the ocean.

Courfeyrac was holding onto the soccer ball for dear life, trying to use it to the keep him afloat, it was when his head started disappearing below the water that Eponine knew she needed to do something. Before she even realised what she was doing she was in the water, with Enjolras following closely behind her.

"Get back on the shore" she shouted back in his direction between breaths.

"I'm a strong swimmer"

She just rolled her because she knew Enjolras, and she knew that he would not listen to her. But the truth was that Courfeyrac was a strong swimmer too, hell, he was a state level swimmer, but that did not matter in the ocean. The ocean was different, unpredictable, it had ebbs and flows which would be foreign to someone who had not grown up alongside it. It's what Eponine loved about it, but it was also what made it so dangerous.

Enjolras was smart at least, when Eponine dived into the rip, he remained on the outer, watching to see if she was going to need help breaking free from the fierce currents. Unlike them she had not grown up in swimming pool, she was used to these currents and tides, and she knew how to get out of a difficult situation, and even so, she had been in far worse situations than this. However Enjolras, being Enjolras, needed to do something and promptly grabbed Courfeyrac off her when she emerged and quickly swam him back to shore.

Courfeyrac was fine, well he had swallowed a lot of water and was pretty shaken up but he was alive, and that was the main thing. It was there on the beach that they agreed never to tell their parents of what had just happened. Though their parents knew something had happened as the children did not go to the beach for the rest of that strange summer.

It was as if that year, Mother Nature had set out to give Eponine an early education, breaking any trust she once had for the ocean. A few months later, after her friends were long gone her father went out on his usual morning fishing trip. It was strange when he was not back by 9 am to open the restaurant, and even stranger when it was past midday and he was still no where to be scene.

Twelve hours later they found his small fishing boat, but he was not in it, they never found her father's body. She remembers a few weeks later, her friends travelled up from the city for the funeral service, and all she could think was that it was strange to have a funeral without a body. Cosette cried when Eponine read out her speech but Eponine did not, she could not, because Thenardier women do not cry and they still had a diner to run after all.

Whilst they did not mourn in the traditional sense, they renamed the seafood basket in his honour, because that is how Thenardier women remember.

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_**iii. ****When they were thirteen**_

Cosette's birthday was in late August, and on her thirteenth birthday, she decided to invite some of her city friends from middle school up to the Seaside for the weekend. She enlisted the help of Eponine, Marius and Enjolras to decorate the home with blue green fairy lights on the outside to create a "magical feeling" throughout the home. It worked, to a certain extent though it was something Eponine would have never wanted for her birthday.

Eponine had celebrated her thirteenth birthday a few months prior, the four of them had a quiet day and they ate lunch at the diner. It was simple but right now it was all she wanted, especially since the atmosphere in town had been strange following the death of her father. She noticed it, the people looked at her with some sort of strange sadness behind their eyes, and she didn't need their pity. But they still pitied her, they stopped yelling at her when she swam in their pool or stole the apples of their trees, which was annoying because now there was no thrill behind it all and soon she stopped spending time at by the ocean and instead just worked at the diner, where people no longer cared if there were bones in the fish pie or their cappuccino was cold.

She was too tired of anything to care, so tired that she was hardly even excited for Cosette's birthday that night. She could imagine how horrible it would be, a groups of giggling girls and boys trying too hard to impress them all and she just could not be bothered with any of that. But at least the usual group would be there to provide an escape from all the strangeness that those city inhabitants tended to bring with them.

"Guess who got beer?" Courfeyrac strolls almost too confidently into Cosette's living room.

"Keep it down!" Cosette's eyes dart upstairs, "he's reading a book upstairs tonight."

"What? You said he-"

"Well he decided to stay in" Cosette snapps "What do you want me to do about it, just keep quiet about the excessive amounts of alcohol and this will be fine."

Courfeyrac tosses a beer to each of the kids at the party and hides several boxes under the sink. As is the case at most good parties, the alcohol does it's job, it calms everyone down and makes them all so much more relaxed. It was Eponine's first taste of alcohol and to be honest, she really did not like it, the taste was pretty much the worst flavour that she could imagine but everyone was drinking it and she felt as if she should too.

And of course, like all parties at age 13, talk soon turns to spin the bottle, because hey, it's the easiest way to get one's first kiss out of the way and still be able to laugh about it afterwards. They were sorted out into some strange circle with Courfeyrac trying his best to occupy more space than was allotted to him when Eponine noticed something, or rather, someone missing "Jehan, where's Enjolras gone?"

"He said this game was too immature for him"

"And that he was worried he would catch a cold" Courfeyrac finished.

"Wait, he really said that?"

"Just the first part" Combeferre replied, rolling his eyes at Courfeyrac's stupidity.

The thing that people tend to leave out when discussing "spin the bottle" is that the game is actually ridiculously boring, and after kissing Marius and Combeferre Eponine was completely and totally ready to get stuck into s'mores and some pinata lollies. However, the slightly drunk teenagers had no intentions of stopping their strange game, prompting Eponine to go outside in search of some better company.

Enjolras was sitting at the edge of the Fauchelevent property, on the fence and he could just see the ocean shining on the horizon.

"What's up?" Eponine smiled as she climbed up onto the fence.

Enjolras shrugged "are they still playing spin the bottle in here"

"Yeah"

"So why are you out here?"

Eponine shrugged "It got boring."

Enjolras didn't reply he just stared out in the direction of the water, turning around when he heard the odd high pitched laugh from inside the home. She was watching him and on the odd occasion he would turn back to her, as if he wanted to say something but then turn his eyes back out to the water.

"So who did you kiss in there?" he finally asked.

"Just Marius and Combeferre"

"Oh, okay."

"Why?" Eponine raised her eyebrows.

"No reason" Enjolras replied, once again staring out into the ocean.

He was such as strange boy Enjolras, and it seemed as if the older he was growing, the more distant he was becoming. She could see it in his eyes, they were cold, as if he had seen all of this before, as if he was bored by everything he was seeing, as if he was waiting for something huge, something life changing to happen that would reinvigorate him, she recognised that look in her own eyes and it scared her. She was thirteen, she was meant to be excited for the future, why was she dreading it then?

"Hey Eponine" Enjolras' voice pulled her back from her thoughts "can I kiss you?" he asked boldly, when any other boy would whisper shyly.

She hesitated for a second, almost shocked to see that Enjolras was in fact human like the rest of them "umm, sure". His lips were soft and his kiss was quick, she did not think much of it, it was not the best, nor the worst of the night.

"Thanks" he swallowed as the pair once again turned their attention to the ocean. Perhaps he was like them afterall.

She wasn't quite sure how long they stayed like that for, at the time it seemed like an eternity but when she arrived back home that night, it felt like the whole night had lasted only a few minutes.

They did not go back inside after the kiss, it was a while later that Eponine decided it was time for her to return home, she was working in the morning after all. Enjolras walked her back to the diner, where they lived on the floor above the eatery itself. He didn't say anything about the kiss, he just walked her to her door and wished her good night before disappearing down the street on his way back home.

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**AN: Thank you to everyone who commented on the first chapter, it's always amazing to see that people actually enjoy reading what I write, thank you, I really appreciate it. Also, thank you to all those who read, followed or favourite this story. **

**Please remember that comments and constructive criticism area always appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**v. When they were fifteen**_

In their fifteenth year, a rather large cyclone hit a rather small island in the Caribbean almost tearing it apart. Some American students were given the opportunity to fundraise money themselves to travel to the small nation in an attempt to assist in the rebuilding process. Enjolras immediately jumped at the opportunity to rebuild a country whilst Combeferre thought it would be a great opportunity to see doctors at work as he was now approaching fifteen and trying to figure out if he did want to enter into the medical field or not. Meanwhile Marius went for a combination of reasons, the first being his natural disposition to help those in need and the second being his grandparent's insistence that it would look "just delightful" on his resume.

So the three boys travelled on an old and rickety plane to the tiny little island where they set off not only to help those whose lives had been torn apart but also to discover who they were, and what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. For example, it was where Combeferre first realised that he was going to prefer dealing with patients when they were under anesthetic and could not yell at him when they felt their needles going in (which he claims is not as terrible as it sounds). Meanwhile Marius discovered his passion for writing, he documented what he saw and the projects he and his friends were involved in and started publishing them in the school newspaper. Not only was it something that would look fantastic on a resume _and _in his portfolio but most importantly, it was something he was passionate about. For almost a year, his grandfather had been taking him into work at the family business as a prospective investment banker, but it was the opposite of what Marius wanted to do. He hated the idea of gambling for a living (because to him, that was all investment bankers did, gamble with other people's money) and much prefered the idea of bringing to light the critical issues facing today's society, especially those being ignored by the majority. He could already see it, him as the journalist, Jehan as the photojournalist as they would travel and bring to the public's attention the plight of those from underprivileged countries.

Finally it was Enjolras who took the most traditional route when working on the tiny island. He helped with the literal construction effort and within two months had assisted in building three orphanages (which were immediately filled) five schools, a makeshift hospital and several homes for temporary accommodation. The time he spent away from the USA was rewarding, it helped him become more compassionate, more understanding and far more tolerable, however, it was not quite the life changing experience he had hoped for. Whilst Marius and Combeferre returned home excited for what their future held, Enjolras was almost sad that he had missed out on a summer in The Hamilton Islesit was quickly becoming his favourite place on earth, though he had no idea why.

Meanwhile Cosette, Jehan and Courfeyrac, who all made the usual trip up to the seaside for the summer. It was a quiet summer, which was quite strange for all of them really. Generally, their summer's of late had been largely characterised by dangerously diving into the ocean at night and all nighters, but school was just getting harder and harder and all they could do was limp to the summer holidays where all they would do was relax and catch up on some much needed sleep.

That summer Monsieur Fauchelevent bought a yacht, and they would spend days at a time out at sea, just resting away from the land, and all the important things which grounded them to it. Jehan would drive the boat out so far that they could no longer see the shore at it was there where he would sketch the sunsets whilst the girls and Courfeyrac would tan underneath it.

They also started a book club that summer, which failed dismally. The original plan was to read a book a week, each bake cake or cookies and eat them on the yacht. However, a week later when they convened with cake, cookies and Eponine's creme brulee they soon discovered that none of them were even half way though the book. So they met again at the end of the month, with cake, cookies and Eponine's chocolate mousse, only to discover that whilst they were all half way through the book, they were no where near finishing it.

Finally, a month later they reconvened, with cake, cookies and a pasta salad (because Eponine didn't have time to make dessert), no one had read anymore of the book, and they concluded that they should have a baking club rather than a book club - it was far more successful

"Eponine, I have some news" Cosette smiled over breakfast the morning before they all went back to the city. "Well you know Marius?"

"Of course" Eponine replied dumbly.

"Yeah, well, earlier this year, like a few months ago, he asked me out, and, and I said yes so now we are dating" she was practically beaming.

Eponine attempted to smile back, "That's fantastic Cosette, you two are adorable" her voice sounded nothing like her own, it was all too high pitched and sounded like a song, like Cosette's voice but thankfully the other girl did not seem to notice.

It wasn't that Eponine was annoyed at their relationship, it was just that she did not care. There were so many other issues that seemed so much larger than Cosette and Marius' relationship, though she couldn't name any of them, she just felt their pressure all around her all the time and it was inescapable. It was these same unnamed and unknown pressures that had been making it more and more difficult to get out of bed in the morning. It was strange, she knew that, but chose to push the thought out of her mind, attempting to smile happily at the gushing Cosette.

* * *

_**vi. When they were (almost) seventeen**_

"Fancy seeing you here" Eponine smirked as Enjolras entered the cafe in early January of their seventeenth year.

Enjolras shrugged sitting down at a stool behind the bar while she started making him a coffee "I hope that's an espresso."

"Your coffee preference gets more and more pretentious each year."

"Whatever."

Enjolras had just gotten his license and with his new R8, he had made his first solo drive over to the The Hamilton was still a little pedantic when it came to his driving - the radio could not be too loud and she could most definitely not bring her food into the car or put her feet onto the dash, but she felt that a few years of "accidentally" bringing her food into his car and he would give up.

She directed him through the small town and up one of the many mountains which loomed in the distance. For the past few months, Eponine had been on a health kick, and it had been her goal to climb that mountain because it was probably the steepest she had seen and looked to be impossible. It took her three weeks of constant training to make it all the way up the hill before she was required to be at work, the view was breath-taking, and Enjolras deserved to see it.

"It's incredible" he smiled, climbing over the fence to sit with Eponine on the railing.

"I think it's become my favourite place in the world" she beamed "Once, I couldn't sleep so I went out to run a little earlier, I got here in time for the sunrise, it was the best. You should run it with me tomorrow."

"God no, I'm on school holidays, I want to sleep in."

"Lazy"

He laughed quietly "How does this sound - you get up and go for your run, when you reach the top give me a call. I'll visit your mom, grab some breakfast that we will eat when we get there?"

"It sounds good."

And it is just so easy for the two of them to fall into this pattern, every morning she would complete her run and he would bring her breakfast, just because he could. He's learnt that she hates spinach and mushrooms but loves tomatoes and much prefers eggs and bacon breakfast to pancakes. After breakfast, he dropped her off at the diner where she starts her shift and returned soon after with his books in hand. It was winter so there was only a few regulars in the diner, so when there was nothing to do she would join him, and catch up on some of her work.

He didn't stay long, leaving to return to the city after just over two weeks, and she missed him when he was no longer there.

However, it was not too long until he was back at by the seaside. One morning just as she was reaching the summit of Mt. Morton, she saw the familiar black R8 parked on the side of the road. Enjolras was already sitting up the railings with what looked to be croissants.

"Did you make it in time to see the sunset?" Eponine smiled as Enjolras pulled her into a warm hug.

"Saw it in the rear window as I was leaving the city, it was pretty amazing, but not as amazing as an extra half hour of sleep would have been" he passed her an apricot jam filled doughnut.

"I can't believe you don't get up from the sunrise."

"I can't believe you do."

The truth is that people from the city run on a different schedule than those who lived rurally, life was slower by the seaside and in turn, so were the people. They were slow to rise, slow to sleep, they would talk slowly, walk slowly and nothing ever seemed to be in a rush. It was as if time slowed down outside of the city. It was all too obvious when someone from the city was in town, they would rush down the streets, overtaking the slow locals, they would quickly order their food, quickly eat it and then quickly leave. Eponine wondered if they could recall how their food tasted, for they had too quickly to remember.

"Why are you back here again?" Eponine asked between bites. "Seriously, you've come here once a year for sixteen years and now three times in just one?"

Enjolras took a while to reply, his eyes watching the waves as they crashed into the rocks below them "We should be getting back, the diner opens soon, I'll give you a lift."

He glared at her as she took another doughnut out of the bag whilst waiting for him to start the car "or you can walk". She rolled her eyes, but put the doughnut away.

They started studying together again, because it just seemed so natural to do so. She learned that his favourite subject was maths, and chemistry, because they were important whilst she preferred art and music, because they made her feel alive. The town was slightly busier than usual as apparently "sea changes" were popular amongst the rich and elderly as they "swapped the hustle and bustle of city life for a relaxing retirement by the beach" she was quoting the commercial now, it was always on TV. But there were more than just the elderly purchasing the vacant lots which dotted the hills. There were families moving into the area, there was talk of opening up a school and a chain store supermarket. Eponine and her mother welcomed the changes, they were the only "eatery" in the area and all the extra people were fantastic for business.

Enjolras came back a few hours later, without a car but with his books "You guys need help here?" he asked as he took a spare spot near the bar.

Eponine shook her head as she finished making a coffee, ran it out to a table and then doubled back to collect food from the pass, before meeting Enjolras at the bar where she got started on more coffee. "What can we say, business has been great."

"I think you need more staff."

"So do I, but mum is crazy, she only wants family working in the family restaurant."

He stared at her incredulously "that makes no sense."

"I know" and she's was off running again, collecting money from customers who are leaving, taking coffee out and clearing tables.

Enjolras studied at the restaurant until closing and as soon as the last customer he got up to assist with the cleaning process. He felt bad, he had literally spent the day watching Eponine run around the restaurant and her and her mother looked exhausted. So he attempted to wash the dishes, and ended up dripping from head to toe. Needless to say, washing dishes was not his strong point, however, whilst he was in the kitchens, washing up he couldn't help but think back to when he was young and Eponine's mother would let him run the pass alongside her. They needed help in this restaurant, it was going to fail as it was. Meals were taking too long to come out, too long to be cleared and people could only be patient for so long.

"You didn't have to do this" Eponine smiled as he walked out of the kitchen, water stains all over his shirt.

He shrugged his shoulders "I wanted to give you something, and I thought it was going to be a quiet night but anyway" he rushed over to his bag rummaging for something in one of his papers "Remember how we were talking about Keats last time I was here?" Eponine nodded slipping into a chair next to him "well, Jehan takes literature, and he said that there was one of the oldest editions of Keats' full compilation in the library" he finished rummaging around in his bag "ah, here it is, for you" he pushed the book into her hands.

"Oh wow," Eponine's eyes widened as she turned the book over, it's covers were all torn and retaped, she loved it "how long until you have to bring it back?"

"I-I was just thinking it could be yours"

"What?"

"Yeah" Enjolras fidgeted with the bottom of his wet shirt "I just thought that you could keep it, I threw it out of the window of the library so they don't know."

"Oh my god" Eponine started laughing "you're a criminal, you stole from the library!"

"I wouldn't call it stealing"

Eponine was doubled over, holding onto him to stop her from sliding of the chair "there is nothing else to call it! You're officially on the run from the library, this is fantastic!" because that was how Eponine's sense of humour worked.

"I really don't think this is that funny, you should be thankful tha-"

"Oh no, I am thankful" she was still laughing "it is just the most hilarious story I've ever heard - you stole from the library! Wait until I tell everyone!"

"Please don't"

"But it's so funny" she whined.

"Now you're making it embarrassing."

"Sorry" she said once she had managed to compose herself "this is really nice of you, thank you, really."

Enjolras' face broke out into a lopsided grin "thanks, anyway, I better head back."

She walked with him outside and watched as he began walking down the street "Wait, where is the car?"

"I left it at home."

"What? Why?" Everyone knew that walking through a dark, and dimly lit town in the middle of the night was never a good idea. A few years ago they believe that someone fell off a cliff trying to walk home at three in the morning.

"Come on Eponine, I always-"

"No, not anymore" she ushered him inside "you're taking the couch, it's actually really comfy." Enjolras followed her upstairs.

The couch as not "comfy" it was cold and noisy pretend leather which would make the most horrible sounds when he turned around, it was far too small and had these high armrests which were impossible to rest his pillow against. It was by far the worst sleep he had ever experienced, yes, even worse than when the school forced them to go camping because it was apparently highly likely that they were going to end up stranded in the middle of a forest with no way of escaping.

Though when Eponine asked how he slept, he somehow managed to paste a smile on his face "Fine", he even shocked himself with how well he had lied to her. Once again, they fall into a pattern together, because it just seems so easy for them to do so. They were two people who seemed to be at that time on the same wave length, they didn't have to speak to understand, they just did.

Since the first night, Enjolras had set aside his books over the dinner rush and worked in the restaurant alongside Eponine and her worked slightly better now with Eponine's mother cooking, Eponine making drinks and running items out while Enjolras just took care of basic was there that it dawned on Enjolras that the diner did not make that much money, food and drink took forever to come out and therefore it always looked full, but they couldn't be making that much money, something in him felt guilty for realising this.

There was only a few nights left before he was meant to drive back to the city when something inside of him just snapped. His whole body ached, more than it had ever before, he was sure that couch was going to kill him. "I'm sorry but I am walking home."

"No you're not because you'll die" Eponine rolled her eyes following him out of the diner.

"Seriously, do you have any idea how irrational that is?"

"Why won't you just stay here like you always do?"

"Because your couch is killing me" he didn't even realise he was yelling "It is worse than the ground!"

Eponine just rolled her eyes again "Fine, just take the bed then."

"What?" He followed her upstairs, wondering if she was planning on taking the couch instead, but he really doubted it.

She started getting changed in front of him and he follows suit, trying his best to keep his eyes off her tanned body, which he had seen so many times but it was as if the implication of being in a bedroom changes everything, well it does for him at least, though by the looks of it not to her.

"Okay" she looked up at him while pulling down the covers "just letting you know, I am a kicker, a puncher, sorry in advance."

Enjolras sighed loudly, pretending to be annoyed but climbed into bed anyway. It was after just a few minutes of silence that he felt Eponine turn towards him "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure" Enjolras replied.

"Why are you here?" she asked in a voice that was curious more than anything "You never used to come up here in the winter but now-"

"My mom's dying" he said quickly, before going quiet, allowing Eponine to process the information "She's been dying for most of my life really, I don't know how she is still alive, if you want to call it living."

"Oh Enjolras I am so sorry-"

"It's okay, it's been like this for as long as I remember, it really isn't that sad anymore" he felt like such a horrible person saying that out loud, but for some reason though that Eponine could understand, she too had lost a parent after all "Dad says I was only three when she was diagnosed" he continued "we've had the beach house for years and mom started saying that the fresh air out here made her feel better, so we started taking her up here every weekend. And then one day she decided she didn't want to go back to the city anymore, she decided she wants to die here. Do you know which one my house is?" it was so easy talking when he could not see her reaction.

"No, I've never been there."

"You know main beach, how there's that private property on the hill, the brown one, and it overlooks the ocean?"

"Yeah I know the one" Eponine replied, everyone knew that house, it was stunning.

"Yeah, well in the room which looks out over the water, we keep all of her medical stuff, you know, breathing machines, her bed, and there's a nurse that lives there too."

"So you've been coming up here to visit her."

"I guess," he paused "but I'm spending more time with you, because she can barely talk anymore, and I hate seeing her like that."

"You should be spending time with her though, and where's your Dad?"

Enjolras laughed "Really Eponine, don't you know that men from the city are completely incapable of remaining faithful. He's got some lady, I don't know, I left Marius' house one morning and she was still there so I just left. I wandered around the city for a while then came up here, I just couldn't be bothered with any awkward introductions."

"That's horrible Enjolras" Eponine said quietly.

"Not really" Enjolras did not sound bothered by his family's predicament "It could be worse." Though Eponine could not imagine how.

That year, when summer finally rolled around, things had changed between them, well, at least for Enjolras they had, and Eponine was too hard to read for anyone to be able to tell. But it was obvious to everyone that something had changed between the two of them, he just seemed to gravitate towards her. If they were watching a movie, he was next to her, when they were driving up the hills, she was always in his car, they also continued having breakfast together every morning and that made everyone even more suspicious.

It got to the point where Courfeyrac and Jehan could not handle it anymore, the question had been eating at them for three days, and they just could not handle it for another second so the convinced Cosette into hosting an exclusive book/ bake club reunion on her father's yacht.

They all brought their favourite foods, steaming apple crumble, panna cotta, custard and chocolate cake and as soon as the boat had pulled out of the docks Eponine was bombarded with questions.

"Okay, I feel like I am getting attacked here" Eponine laughed as soon as there was a break in all the questions.

"Oh, no Eponine, we aren't attacking you, we're just curious" Jehan smiled excitedly.

"I need to know what's going on" Courfeyrac cried dramatically.

Eponine glared at Cosette "They were annoying me, I couldn't handle their nagging anymore. And if you want my opinion, the two of you would be adorable."

"Very cute" Jehand added.

"And your kids would be hot"

"You're all crazy, seriously you need your heads checked" Eponine glanced around the yacht, looking for an escape, she thought a swim in the ocean would be better than hanging around with them.

Her denials and protestations however fell on deaf ears, and Eponine would just roll her eyes whenever she was with Enjolras and Jehan and Courfeyrac had noticed, casting her shiteating grins from across the room. Enjolras didn't notice.

The truth is that Eponine wasn't quite sure how she felt about Enjolras, sure, she liked him, and she liked spending time with him, and perhaps she wouldn't mind spending more time with him. But he wasn't always by the seaside with her, and she was never in the city with him.

They are having breakfast one morning when she ends up getting hot jam all over her cheeks. He starts wiping it off for her - he doesn't even know why - when soon enough, there was no more jam left on and his thumb is running gently over her cheek, feeling it's rise and fall. For a moment there, everything stops, Eponine has no idea where she is, she can't hear anything other than the sound of her heart racing and she is sure Enjolras can hear it too. All she can see is his eyes, shining bright blue and their pupils so wide darting from her eyes, down to her lips and back up again. It feels as if they stay like that forever, but then his lips are on hers and his eyes are closed and she finds herself responding, running her hands through his blonde hair as she tried to pull him closer. His lips feel incredible against hers and he breaks the kiss only long enough to pull her from the fence and towards the car.

They crash down onto hot leather seats, hearts racing, blood rushing and hands fumbling to remove the clothes between them. She can't explain how or why it was happening but as he his body moved with hers, it just felt so, so right.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the clichés, but I love them : ) thank you to everyone that read, followed or favourited this story and a special thank you to those who commented. Please remember that comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**iv. When they were nineteen**_

Enjolras left the city and state to go to university, with most of his friends also making the exact same trip to join him. They were all doing different courses but chose to go to the same university because they all knew they would be hopeless at staying in touch. It was there that he realised that college life was not all that different from the life he had led in the city. He was living with his friends and studying so hard he was convinced he was going insane - see, no different from New York. However, his new bed across state was nowhere near as comfy as the one at the apartment in New York, and his friends were dirty, leaving their clothes and other junk strewn across their share house and he was nowhere near The Hamilton Isles.

He was packing up his things for the summer break when he received the phone call telling him to get to the holiday home as fast as possible as it looked as if his mother would finally be relieved of this life. It would've made him happy, because it was torture watching her live that way (if it could even be described as living) but he hadn't said goodbye yet, hell, he barely even said goodbye the last time he left. That last summer Enjolras just shouted in the direction of the room she was sitting in, his mind on what he believed was much more pressing issues.

He raced to the airport and caught the first flight out of town but he wasn't quite fast enough. She died while he was collecting his luggage at LaGuardia and by the time he finally got to the island her hands were cold, but at least she looked like she was finally out of her misery and perhaps they were out of theirs. Now they could move on, his father can debut his girlfriend and they can stop living under her shadow because as much as his mother never wanted to destroy their lives she did. It was not intentional, but her imminent death hung over all of them. People tried to hide it they really did, but Enjolras could always see the pity in their eyes. When he started going up to the holiday home more frequently over the last few years, he'd sometimes forget to complete about all of his work, but his teachers would not care, they would just nod and place a comforting hand on his shoulder, telling him that it's okay and just to get the work done "when he can". He knew he was manipulating them and he didn't really care.

Things were only going to get worse now. There would be a notice in the paper, and a highly publicised funeral, photographers, journalists, future bosses, they would all be there to mourn, to sigh as they shake his hand, "I'm so sorry, your mother was such a lovely woman, taken too soon" and he would nod and thank them even though they probably knew her more than he ever did. He never made the effort, because she was never going to be alive for long. He was told to prepare for life without his mother when he was six years old, no one ever thought she would live this long, they had already phased her out of their lives, long before she was actually gone. Thinking about it now made Enjolras hate himself.

He eventually made his way down to the diner. He walks, and it takes him longer than usual because he really does not want to deal with people right now, just with Eponine. She was the only person he had really discussed the situation of his mother with. Yes, whilst the rest of his group knew - everyone knew everything about everyone in New York - he had never quite discussed his situation with them, and thankfully they never pressed it. They understood Enjolras and knew that he would talk if or when he wanted to. Right now Enjolras wanted to talk, he needed to talk but he only wanted one person.

There was an unfamiliar face making coffee at the diner when he arrived. A young man, probably Enjolras' age or a few years older with dark hair, even darker eyes and ridiculously high cheekbones that Enjolras had never seen before on another man. Enjolras watched as Eponine, who seemed to be getting more and more beautiful each year pulled this new man into a hug, before pecking him on the cheek and darting upstairs.

"Hi, how are you" the man shouted from behind the coffee machine when Enjolras finally entered.

"Not too bad, yourself?" his mother just died and he replied with not too bad. Enjolras had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, seriously what was wrong with him?

"Dying for this shift to be over, the wind's picking up and the waves are going to be great. Anyway, what can I get for you?"

"Double ristretto"

The man laughs to himself "Not from around here are you?" Enjolras shakes his head "I don't think I've heard anything other than a cappuccino or latte in the six months I've been here."

"What made you move up here?" Enjolras seized his opportunity to pry.

"Eponine, the girl that runs-"

"Yeah I know Eponine."

Enjolras later learned that the new man's name was Montparnasse and he had lived in California, Istanbul, Connecticut and Rhode Island before meeting Eponine whilst he was surfing at the beach one day, and decided to stay permanently.

Enjolras concluded that the absolute worst thing about Montparnasse was that he was so damn easy to get along with. The two of them fanatically followed the same football team and shared a passion for Berlin's street art but not even that could make Enjolras like him. On what felt like was the one time he really needed Eponine, she was never there, she was always working with Montparnasse, surfing with Montparnasse, watching a movie with Montparnasse and Enjolras would always find him self tagging along for half an hour until thought of an escape from the couple who were all over each other.

He rejoiced a few days later when the rest of the group arrived. Even though his friends from New York had already heard the news from their parents, it was with the group as a whole, and Montparnasse where Enjolras finally said it out loud, his mother was dead and the dreaded funeral was just a few days away. He wasn't dreading the fact that they were going to lower her into the ground, rather the fuss that came with it. He did not want to have to deal with all the people who were going to be at the funeral, he did not want to shake hundreds of people's hands, he did not want to he also didn't want to have to fake tears when it came to the his speech which he still hadn't written but he needed to come across as somewhat human, his Dad's friends had always found him a little strange as is.

"Shit man, that's tough" Montparnasse finally spoke up "If you ever need anything, Ep and I are here for you."

God Enjolras hated him.

Eponine cornered him soon after everyone had left because hanging around someone whose parent had just died is a little depressing, and the fact that Enjolras wasn't showing any emotion was beginning to scare them. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell anyone" he snapped, mimicking her tone.

"Fuck off, everyone else knew except me, I looked like an idiot-"

"I tried to, but you were busy" he realised he was being petty, but really didn't care.

"Come off it Enjolras, since when did you start acting like a five year old, you could have told me" she's shouting at him now, her voice piercing through the empty diner.

"You were with Montpar-"

"Are you really angry about that? Why? Why do you even care?"

He had no response because yes, he was angry with her but he has no reason to be, she had done nothing wrong but that didn't change how he felt "I have to do a speech at the funeral can you be there with me?"

"What?" Eponine snapped.

"I have to get up and do a speech at the funeral, I don't know what to say, a-and I'd like for you to just be there with me when I have to read."

Her face relaxed and her face softened "Sure."

Ten minutes before the funeral and Eponine was no where to be seen, her mother was sitting somewhere towards the back of the room, but Eponine and Montparnasse were yet to arrive and Enjolras was getting angry, and anxious. He kept running his hand over the paper in his pocket which he had opened, reread and refolded so many times it was close to tearing. Not a particularly religious person, he found himself praying that she would be there, because for some reason, he was nervous, terrified. He could see people arriving, their necks craning to catch a glimpse of him as he had managed to disappear off the New York social calendar for the past 18 months. Those women would nudge their husbands and whisper down to their daughters "He's grown up beautifully, a real mix of both his mother and father, it's a shame they never had more kids". He really didn't miss that life.

Eponine arrived three minutes before the ceremony began, which annoyed Enjolras because he expected her to be there for him, and all she had managed to do so far was stress him out. However, when he stood up to read his speech, she was there, standing just behind him, supporting him the whole time. He had written it just an hour before the funeral, as for one of the first times in his life, he had nothing to say, words just would not come. He wanted to make it emotional, he wanted people to cry but everything that came out on paper just seemed to so wooden and robotic, he hated every word on that scrunched up piece of paper.

He glanced over at Eponine beside him for one last time before taking a breath, and staring out at the faces in front of him "I never knew my mother the way all of you did. You have memories of her a certain way and there is nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't the mother I knew..."

He hated the end of funerals, when everyone gives their condolences, to him, it seemed like a great waste of time, and as much as he just wanted to leave Enjolras remained, shaking hands with people and managing a sombre yet grateful smile. He thanked people he hadn't seen since he was a child, and people he was sure he had never seen before. He stood in alongside his father, with his friends watching him from the side of the room, rushing him canapes and drinks in between greets, though he found himself changing the wine which Courfeyrac brought him with Cosette's water time and time again.

He never realised how much people loved his mother, they spent their night trying to tell him all these stories of her at high school, at university and at mother's group. She was nothing like he was, people said that a lot and he was sure that was their way of saying that his mother was actually fun to be around. Though they also said he was nothing like his father either, too friendly to be like his father and not friendly enough to be like his mother. The truth was that Enjolras was a child born into despair, into a family not equipped to handle what was coming at them, into a family who threw all their energy and all their money at a disease which refused to be defeated. A family that realised the hard way that no matter how much property they owned, how much money they had or what their status was in society, they were ultimately powerless.

Thye were right, he was not his parents, it was unreasonable for them to expect that from him.

Finally his family and their friends left the home, to take the drive back to New York, he's assuming his father was with them, as he was not in the house and had probably forgotten to say goodbye to his son in between all of his grief. In the final years before his mother died Enjolras had begun to wonder if his father had ever really been in love with his mother. The funeral made him remember that no matter what had happened in recent years, his father had never stopped loving his mother, and he felt guilty for ever thinking otherwise.

Eponine was still there, when everybody else had left, she didn't speak to him much, because really, what can you say when one's parent is gone but she wanted to be there, just in case he needed her. It was dark out, and rather cold, they stood out on his balcony, staring out into the water in complete silence. It was then that Eponine noticed Enjolras' face in the moonlight, eyebrows furrowed and biting onto his bottom lip, as she looked closer she noticed he was shaking too. It was when they caught each other's eyes that he broke down, loud sobs piercing the silence and Eponine held onto him as he cried into her shoulders, cries that sounded closer to howls and she shut her eyes tight to stop them from crying because she had never heard pain quite like this.

She stayed with him that night, in that huge empty house, they looked at old photos, old videos, ate the leftover food and fell asleep on the couch. The house was huge, it creaks and groans as if it too has lived a long hard life, Eponine thought of it as the ghost of his mother, her soul etched into the walls, trapped in the house.

* * *

_**iv. When they were twenty one**_

It's been years since Cosette had a massive birthday party, her sixteenth birthday was a movie night, and for her eighteenth birthday, they just took the yacht out and ate dinner in the middle of nowhere. But now she was 21, she wanted an absolutely huge party to celebrate her official entrance into adulthood, she felt like she deserved it, after all these years of… existing. There are not many people in the world (according to Eponine) that could boast to know over 100 people, and there were even fewer who could actually know over one hundred people, and have every single one of them absolutely adore them, Cosette was one of those people.

The town buzzed the day of her birthday, not only with the usual summer holidayers but also with college students, which horrified the locals who feared that the town had suddenly turned into the new Cancun. Monsieur Fauchelevent moved out of his holiday home for a weekend, he did not want to be there as it was practically being destroyed by a bunch of bored college students. He had told Cosette to be careful, to ensure that nothing was truly ruined, and so Marius and Combeferre were given the task of moving almost all the furniture downstairs into what would have been a secure and locked basement. This was a wise move on her part, it is a shame though, that her friends have zero coordination and generally poor communication skills. They dropped the coffee table twice, damaging one of it's legs and accidentally walked into several walls while carrying the dining room table, severely denting one of it's sides, honestly she would have been better just leaving the items where they were.

Just like old times, Courfeyrac was in charge of providing beverages, but much preferred not having to be so discreet about it. As he lugged in the last slab of beer, he dropped in the living room victoriously, and leaving a strange mark in the shape of a corner on the floorboards, but Cosette was too busy to notice. She was running around frantically, trying to ensure that everything was in it's place, it was almost five and the caterers were meant to be here half an hour ago but were still no where to be seen. Enjolras had flown in just under an hour ago when he said he would be there in the morning that annoyed her for some reason, she didn't even know why.

And Eponine was still nowhere to be found, well that was a slight exaggeration on Cosette's behalf, she was probably at the diner working, as they were expecting to be quite busy with all the student being in town. The diner was, in actual fact, quite the opposite.

To go along with all the new families who had moved up to the small town over the past few years, another restaurant opened up on the main shopping strip, just a few doors down. It was brand new, very shiny and modern, but that was all Eponine knew about it, as she had never actually dined there, that would be seen by her mother as an act of treason. However, it's modern New Yorker menu had caused much of the townspeople to leave what was old and familiar to them for the new restaurant who's steel front glistened at them from across the street.

Seeing all the people leave her restaurant for the new one annoyed Eponine's mother and made her a bitter lady. She would storm through the restaurant, cursing the "Damn Addams, Wilsons and those gossiping Hammond family". "Good riddance" she would shout throughout the restaurant, even if there were customers dining "Good riddance to them all."

Eponine did not take their betrayal quite as hard, the food at that restaurant looked tasty, and they hadn't updated the menu since before she was born – even she was sick of all their meals. They hadn't updated the diner itself in years, it was in desperate need of a paint, some new furniture, crockery and probably a new kitchen too, but Eponine would never dare to tell her mother that. Ever since her father's death, her mother has been reluctant to change anything, their bedroom is still unchanged since the day of her father's death, his clothes still hung in the closet and there is a glass of untouched water lying next to their bedside table, with his tablets next to it, it's been over 10 year and Eponine is sure that her mother will never recover. So she just accepts what her mother wants, it is easier like that. Eponine was never one to shy away from a conflict, but she had seen how her mother laboured, how stressed and tired she was and decided not to add to the problem.

Eponine was late to the party, arriving with just ten minutes before speeches, after greeting Cosette who really just glared at her she quickly said hi to the rest of the group before getting up to begin her speech. Cosette who was very annoyed and quite drunk pulled her close and whispered quite loudly "This better be worth the stress you have caused me."

Eponine had to stop herself from laughing at this new, grumpy Cosette which she had never seen before because, well, it was hilarious "Well," Eponine smiled, putting on her best showman's voice "I am terribly sorry for being late Cosette, and everyone else who was eagerly awaiting my arrival" her voice turned sarcastic as she gestured over to her very drunk group of friends who cheered loudly in response "however, as I tend to work as Cosette's trusty side kick, I am by default unable to roll out of bed looking absolutely stunning, I like fine wine need many, many years to look great, please forgive me Cosette" Eponine cried dramatically making most of the room burst out laughing. "But that's enough about me, let's talk about Cosette…"

Soon after her speech was over Eponine started drinking because… well what else was there to do and Courfeyrac always bought the best alcohol. It doesn't take long for Enjolras to appear by her side absolutely reeking of alcohol "nice speech" he smiled, leaning closer in closer than necessary to talk to her.

"Thanks, I had no idea what to say!" she shouted over the music.

"I want you to dance with you" he took her hand, pulling her out onto the makeshift dance floor, making it very obvious that in his current state, he didn't really care about her speech for Cosette. University had done good things for Enjolras, namely making him a lot less awkward in these kinds of situations. "So, where's Montparnasse tonight?"

Eponine raised her eyebrows at Enjolras "Sailing somewhere in the Caribbean."

He didn't even bother to hide his smirk as he pulled her closer "Knew it."

As the night and drinks continued to flow, the pair began to get more adventurous, Enjolras' lips trailing down her neck, ghosting soft kisses of her skin and Eponine's hands, tangling in his hair, pulling his body even closer to hers. She did not care who could see them, she just needed him. Her hands were trailing his body, pulling desperately at him until he finally glanced up at her, from a part of her neck he had been focusing on, his hands were pressing on her hips and there was a look in his eyes she only vaguely remembered.

They left without saying goodbye to anyone, in some sort of drunken haze they stumbled through the backstreets of the quiet town back to his home, which seemed so much closer that night than it ever had before. Her hands, felt so familiar on his body as they began peeling items of clothing off, leaving a trail towards the bedroom. Her knees buckled as she hit the bed, Enjolras joining her moments later. He had missed the way her lips felt against his, her soft skin against his body and how amazing she could make him feel.

Enjolras woke the next morning to see Eponine, standing by the window looking out across the waves and he wanted nothing more than to pull her back to bed with him, and never leave the house again. In almost every aspect of his life Enjolras prided himself on his ability to keep his emotions and actions completely separate and generally it was easy to do so but with Eponine it was different. He didn't quite know exactly when he fell in love with her, in fact, he can barely even remember a time when she was not the centre of his thoughts and one of the few reasons why he would regularly make the drive up to The Hamilton Isle, even if those drives had become less and less frequent since he started university.

He wasn't quite sure if she felt the same way about him, generally he didn't mind not knowing, but there was something about the way she looked at him last night and the way she moaned his name in pure ecstasy that made him want to invite her to live with him in New York, Massachusetts or wherever he was going next.

"Oh you're up" she turned away from the window, breaking him from his thoughts "good, I really need to get going actually."

"Or you could stay here" he smiled as she began to search for her clothes.

"Can't, work"

"Just call in sick" he took hold of her hand, trying to pull her back into bed with him.

She harshly snatched her hand back "Don't you have to go back to the city or something?"

"Umm n-" he started, only to realise she really wasn't listening

"Anyway, see you whenever I see you next" she shouted from somewhere down the hallway before hearing the front door slam.

He got up, changed and for a minute decided he would go help Cosette with the cleanup effort. He got in the car and drove back to the city instead.

* * *

**AN: Thank you so much for reading, following or favouriting, a special thank you to those who also commented, I really, really appreciate it. Please remember that comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**v. When they were twenty three**_

Everyone rushed to Eponine's side when they heard of Mrs. Thenardier's death, they were all crying around her, her friends and a collection of people from the town all exclaiming that it was "just such a shock!"

For Eponine it was not, perhaps it was because she had been living with her mother for all her life, saw her mother's diet of permanently deep fried food and whatever was leftover from the restaurant and heard how her mother would gasp for air as she climbed up the stairs to their tiny apartment above the diner. She had encouraged her mother to go out for walks with her, for her health but she had always refused, reminding Eponine of her grandmother, who apparently smoked a packet of cigarettes a day (Eponine wondered how a lady back then could afford such an expensive habit) and ate nothing unless it was fried and then lived to the ripe old age of 87. Therefore, Eponine's mother had concluded that they simply had "good genes" and all the hiking and running Eponine did in the mornings were nothing more than a waste of time. Now in her death, Eponine had at least been proven right, even though she would have much rathered to have been wrong.

Her mother was one of the characters of the town, with a loud booming voice which could be heard across the town and was on the verge of becoming iconic. Perhaps her mother was an icon of the town, people were always popping their head into the diner to say hi and ask them how they were before discreetly crossing the road to go to the not so brand new, but still exceedingly popular restaurant across the road while Eponine's mother cursed at them under her breath. However, even though their loyalties no longer lied with the Thenardier establishment, they still loved the mother and daughter, and Eponine no longer believed that it was just out of pity.

Cosette was magnificent from the moment she arrived. She immediately closed the restaurant when she saw Eponine, wondering around aimlessly whilst customers waited for their orders to be cooked even though there was no one who knew how to work as single one of those ancient contraptions in the kitchen. It was Cosette who contacted the funeral home, organised the flowers, the service, the funeral plot and was there to actually talk to Eponine at the end of the night.

Thenardier women, according to her mother, did not cry, but at this point, Eponine could not help herself, what had she ever done to become an orphan? What did she do to deserve this? Cosette, who did not know her biological parents and had chosen to assume that they were dead rubbed Eponine's back and kissed her hair comfortingly as she cried for what seemed to be days on end. Sometimes even Thenardier women break.

Enjolras arrived just a few days after everyone else, he had started a clerkship at a law firm and had to apply for time off, though thankfully they granted it to him in abundance, which he really was not expecting. Perhaps he was there for a purely selfish reason, after all, now, there was nothing tying her to the Island, nothing keeping her there and it really wouldn't be that hard for her to just pack up and move, with him. However, upon arriving there he realised that it was never going to happen. Perhaps Eponine was exactly like her mother - stubborn and unmoving, like a bull - and she was not going to leave the Island, after all, it was her home.

Enjolras visited his mother's plot after the burial, two women only a few graves from each other. It was still strange to see though, such young people, immortalised in pictures and never to grow truly old. A few days after the burial, they all gathered in the empty diner for the family's attorney to go over the will, as expected everything went to Eponine, and the lawyer was gone just as quickly as he had come.

However, Eponine had no experience running a restaurant, her mother, the loving yet domineering woman she was took care of the functioning of the restaurant while Eponine was to keep everything to do with the customer's running smoothly. It was Marius who volunteered to take a look over the books for her, and he came back with no good news.

"The restaurant is bankrupt, I don't even know how you guys are keeping it running, it's costing you more money than it is earning."

"For how long?" Eponine asked in disbelief, she knew things were bad, but had never really expected them to be quite like this.

"About three years."

"Shit" she mumbled under her breath, since the other restaurant opened up "what are our options?"

"Alright so we have two paths we can go down here" Marius was feeling every bit the financial advisor he was soon going to graduate as at the end of the year "the first is that you sell up, move elsewhere and start over with the money you make, which should be substantial."

Enjolras tried to keep his face straight, hoping that for once she would just take the easy way out.

"Not happening" she said bluntly "what is option two?"

"You spend money to make money, Keynesian economics."

"English please" Combeferre, one of the few of the group who had not studied economics spoke up.

"Invest in the restaurant, pour your money into it and hope it will pay you back" Courfeyrac volunteered.

"Pretty much" Marius finished, only slightly annoyed that Courfeyrac had stolen his chance to have everyone marvel at his economic brilliance "Just looking around here I can already see areas for improvement, just basic things really to bring customers back."

Eponine nodded, she had known this for years "A new menu."

"A new sign and name" Jehan joined in.

"New furniture and a new layout" Marius finished "It requires investment, and it is going to cost you, because running a restaurant isn't cheap, only crazy people and celebrities do it but it's possible."

Eponine found herself nodding again "Let's do it."

In true Thenardier fashion, Eponine had no time for grieving, she did what she did best - threw herself into a new project - the diner. First, the more creative types - Courfeyrac, Jehan, Cosette and Eponine gathered to work on colour schemes, names, fonts and menus.

"How about _The Wave Cafe?_" Courfeyrac suggested late one night, it had always been known as just the diner, it was new, but for some reason Eponine just didn't like it.

"Hmm, it's a little bit typical" Jehan said "How about _Thenardier's by the Bay _?"

"That's horrible" Cosette looked mildly horrified though Eponine wasn't sure if it was by the name or because she had offended Jehan "how does _The Jetty_ sound?"

"I like that one best" Eponine quickly cut in, it wasn't too typical or overdone but still retained some beach side character.

"Done!" Jehan exclaimed "that was surprisingly easy."

The truth was that with her friends, thing were easy, whilst the creatives discussed the physical appearance of the cafe, the more intellectual members of their group (or the boring ones as Courfeyrac preferred to call them) worked on setting up an easy accounts system for the diner to keep everything running smoothly. However, they could only remain with her for so long, as their lives in the city soon came calling for them, it was not too much of an inconvenience for Eponine though, as they were still keeping the restaurant closed and just about to start painting.

Before long it was only Enjolras who remained, his work giving him a few months off after he grossly exaggerated Eponine's situation in his application for time off. He helped her with the painting, bringing in and setting up all the furniture and figuring out how to use all the kitchen appliances. Eponine loved how the new diner looked, it was relaxing to be around, with soft blue walls and white trimmings, it made her feel like she was sitting outside on someone's deck, watching the waves roll in.

At times people from the town would pop their heads through the door, asking her how she was holding up and telling her that the diner was looking "just fantastic" and that the would have to come for dinner one day when it was open again, she hoped they would be true to their words.

However there was still one thing holding Eponine back; the menu. She knew it needed to be changed, but everytime she tried to write up some new meals her menu looked exactly like the open up the street and it would seem like she was copying them. Though thankfully Enjolras remained, and decided to use his creative side for once.

"Okay" Enjolras spoke over breakfast one morning "I've been thinking about this place, and how to get customers through the door again and how to make it stand apart and I think I have found the answer."

"Continue"

"So some of the people who live here have farms over the hill, others are fishermen whilst even more have cattle and chickens, I think you should contact them, make them your suppliers so that you are sustaining the community. Then, when people come to the diner, they are not just supporting you-"

"-They're supporting everyone."

"Exactly"

Eponine nodded "that's a good idea. I was thinking I am going to need some help to me actually run this place, and I wanted to ask some of the kids around the town to be waiters, and then see if I can get a chef from somewhere, maybe even from here."

"Make this place a real community project, this is fantastic, this will work" Enjolras' eyes lit up "Though we will need to get Marius back here to set up a payroll system I can do a basic one for you, but Marius and Courfeyrac will create one that's less likely to break on you."

Eponine's face broke into a wide smile, a genuine one which Enjolras was sure he had not seen in quite sometime "I'm actually really excited" she jumped up from the table "I'm going to make an advertisement."

For the next week they visited prospective suppliers in an attempt to see what produce was available and in what amounts. Marius made the trip to setup the new payroll system that weekend while Eponine interviewed prospective waiters. Most of those who applied were in their mid teens and looking for a job which Eponine was all too willing to give to them. There was also a couple, Maggie and Arnold who owned the farm who used to work as chefs at a restaurant in Rhode Island. They were retired now, and had moved to the seaside a few years ago. However, like many retirees, the soon discovered that their savings just weren't enough to live on, so Eponine promptly gave them a job.

A week before the new and improved diner was due to open, Eponine, Enjolras and their staff hosted Eat and Greet in one of the town square. They rented tables and chairs, and set up food in a buffet style for the the townspeople to enjoy one morning, in an attempt to bring people back to the diner. Eponine, in consultation with Enjolras, Maggie and Arnold settled upon a seasonal menu, which would work with the best produce in the region at the time - currently it was summer and therefore wanted to show off the beautiful fresh fruits the island had on offer. Drinks included a Berry Rose Sangria, Apricot Iced Tea and homemade Lemonade, whilst mains included open faced chicken or burgers with basil mayonnaise, crab cakes, lobster rolls and then fruit parfait and mango sorbet for dessert. Needless to say, the Eat and Greet was a monumental success and Eponine was beginning to think that their risk would actually pay off.

Enjolras received a call from work two days before the diner's official reopening, reminding him that he was required to return to work on the coming Monday, there was a huge case that they were about to start working on and believed it would be a "once in a lifetime experience" if Enjolras was to work on it. "I'll come back soon" he pulled her into a deep hug and pecked her softly on the cheek "and maybe you can come to New York one day."

"Maybe" she smiled as she began pulling away "good luck on your case" she stood by the diner and watched the R8 disappeared into the dust.

* * *

_**vi. When they were twenty five**_

Engagements really are rather depressing events for those who are not doing the engaging. Eponine would never actually say it out loud but it was the truth. It is when people get engaged that their friends go "Oh crap, am I really so strange that I will never actually find someone" or, even worse, they propose to their significant others, in a panicked state, thankfully none of them took that option. Though Jehan brought a cat a few days after and claimed that the two events were completely unrelated

No one was particularly surprised when the Marius and Cosette announced that they were going up to their holiday homes from the weekend and expected everyone to follow. They were young, yes, but why wait when you know you've met the one Cosette reasoned. She settled on a small wedding, under 100 people preferably, and with a bridal party consisting of just a best man; Courfeyrac, and the maid of honour; Eponine. She wanted to sit amongst her guests, and already had a venue in mind.

She remembered as a child, one day they were all playing on the sand and Cosette was just taking in her surroundings when she spotted a beautiful home, sitting atop the tallest sand dune. She wanted her father to buy it for her, however, he told her it already had owners. She could not for the life of her think who. Sure, she had seen a huge white car parked out the front sometimes, but it still did not look like anyone lived there. The lights were rarely on, and she had not once seen a party in what she imagined was their magnificent gardens, really, it just seemed like the owners were wasting it's beauty. She was much older when she discovered that it was Enjolras' home. It was a rainy summer's day, and they had all been spending time at Cosette's house, watching movies and one of Valjean's favourite documentaries "Seven Up!" which Enjolras argued was "critically flawed" as it "hypothesised that social mobility is non existent and that one's social class dictated their role in life". That day, Enjolras became Fauchelevant's favourite.

As the night wore on, a family friend of Eponine's picked her up and took her home, Combeferre and Courfeyrac went home with Marius and Jehan and Joly got tired, and fell asleep on the couch. Enjolras just waited, his eyes flicking from the tv to the clock and back again. Eventually Monsieur Fauchelevent took him home, with Cosette begging him to take her with him.

The home was down a long dirt path, which eventually opened up into a wide circular drive. It was as the headlights illuminated the home that Cosette recognised it, she could she the ocean shimmering in the moonlight behind it. The home was just as magnificent from the front as it was from the back and as Enjolras disappeared behind the door, she found herself more in love with it than ever. After that day, there was this unspoken agreement between the two of them, when everyone had gone home, they would drive Enjolras back to his house. She never asked why and he never volunteered a reason, though she suspected her father knew exactly why Enjolras needed the lift.

"Enjolras" Cosette smiled from across the table, after Marius had announced their engagement "could we use your home, your holiday home of course, as a venue for the wedding? I fell in love with it years ago and I can't imagine-"

"Sure" Enjolras shrugged, biting into his breakfast, ricotta and honey on toast - his own creation after he raided _The Jetty's_ kitchen "the house deserves to be lived in. Do whatever you want with it."

The pair had a quick engagement, just two months, and whilst that would have stressed out even the most patient of brides, Cosette arrived at her holiday home three days before the wedding completely relaxed. Eponine could not help but feel envious of people such as Cosette who just seemed to have everything together. Cosette was working as a teacher in Manhattan, her husband was one of the country's leading investment bankers at just 25 and now they were getting married. Cosette was one of Eponine's best friends and therefore she could never call herself jealous, envious sure, but not jealous.

Eponine had found herself looking after and guiding six teenagers through adolescence, through their schooling, even though she had been home schooled herself. However, Eponine loved literature, english, history and the like and was only too willing to help out. She was also young enough to become a confidant for the kids, spending her afternoons listening to her staff complain about their parents, their marks and their boyfriends. They adored Enjolras, even though he was no longer visiting regularly, perhaps only once or twice in the past year, each time apologising profusely for his extended absences.

The kids loved Eponine's friends because they provided them with something to aspire to, and idea of what life was like away from the tiny towns and in the big city. Everytime they would visit, the kids would bombard them with questions about GPAs, universities and football teams. To a certain extent Eponine felt that she had skipped the marriage and early childhood stage and was raising a troupe of surprisingly well behaved teenagers, and she really didn't mind that much.

The wedding was a very pretty and very civil affair, as everything organised by Cosette tended to be. It was strange that in just four years they had gone from a very, very wild 21st birthday party to the most civilised wedding any of them could have imagined, and Eponine did not want to grow up just yet.

The ceremony was held on the balcony before everyone went inside for dinner and dancing, after a few dances with Courfeyrac, Eponine once again found herself in Enjolras' arms and well, he was a damn good dancer. And it was just a few hours later, when they were sure that everyone had left, and the newlyweds were on their way to JFK for three months in Sardinia that Eponine once again found herself in his bed, Enjolras' lips on her neck and his name on her lips.

The next morning though before he had even opened his eyes Enjolras knew something was different. Eponine's warm body was still next to him, which was unusual, whenever they had slept together previously, he would wake just in time to see her leave, if that. But this morning, she was still in bed, flipping through some emails on her phone "finally" she smiled down at him "I'm starving, do you want to raid the fridge for leftovers?"

They had breakfast out on the balcony, the warm sea air, a cup of hot coffee and Eponine really all he needed to start his day off perfectly. And he came so, so close to telling her how he feels, how he wants to start every morning this way, with her. They were silent, and he was looking at her, trying to gage if it was the right time, trying to figure out how she would respond.

Perhaps, maybe, next time.

* * *

**Sorry for taking so long to update, uni started again and I am currently working 2 jobs – exhausting. Thanks to everyone who commented including the anon who I couldn't reply directly to, I hope you're finding the sentences a little shorter.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read, commented or subscribed, please remember that constructive criticism is always appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**vii. When they were twenty seven**_

"You have got to be kidding me."

Eponine was staring through the glass window door of _The Jetty,_ completely and totally convinced that she was officially out of her mind. Enjolras was standing before her, the five year old she had met, with unruly curls and bright blue eyes and he was using all his might to open the door, getting finger marks all over the door and leaving fingermarks on the pristine door which one of the girls had just finished cleaning.

She just stared at the boy, in complete shock, he was in the new diner, she was an adult, was Enjolras conducting some sort of time travelling crap? It really wouldn't surprise her.

"Eponine" Enjolras, the one who was her age, opened the door for the young boy, who ran in taking a seat by the window "I see you've met Connor." All Eponine just stared at him, her mouth slightly ajar.

"Drink?" she finally spoke up after what seemed to be minutes.

"Yeah" Enjolras nodded before taking a seat by the bar and watching the young boy who is staring out at the ocean.

Eponine took far longer than usual to get him a coke, getting back, still trying to process what she had just seen. She knew what it meant, but still struggled to believe it "He's yours?" it sounded strange coming from her lips.

"Yeah."

She stayed silent for almost a minute "shit."

"I know."

Enjolras had never been one for serious girlfriends, mainly due to the fact that he was completely in love with Eponine. Though that being said, he was also not one for remaining celibate until he saw Eponine for a few weeks (if that) every year, and he was sure she was the same. He thought Cosette and Marius were playing a joke on him, when they approached him outside of work one day with grave looks on their faces.

A young boy had been enrolled at the school where Cosette taught. After school in his first week, his mother came to see Cosette, they had been in the same course at university all those years ago. Amelia Jean, Cosette vaguely remembered her, a straight A student who loved children, she was not at all surprised to see that her former classmate now had one of her own. However, what came out of her mouth did shock even the unflappable Cosette.

Basically, Amelia and Enjolras had slept together in her final year of university. By the time she found out she was pregnant, Enjolras was on his clerkship and she was graduating. At first she had no intention of keeping the child, but at the same time, she could not bring herself to get rid of it either. And as time progressed, it stopped becoming an it and started becoming a he/she and that just made everything so much more difficult. She tried to look for Enjolras, but by now they had all graduated and it all just became too hard. She didn't need the father, really, she was independent, she started working as a teacher, her parents helped out and things were going well.

She barely even thought of Enjolras anymore, she moved to New York because she had gotten a job at one of the top preparatory schools in the country and the pay was amazing. She had no idea she would enrol her son in the same school that Cosette was teaching at, and Cosette believed her.

Upon discovering the news, Enjolras had done what any mildly intelligent and extremely wealthy man would have done, and asked for a paternity test. His genes weren't that uncommon and blond haired blue eyed children were a dime in a dozen across the country. However, the test results came back and the child was Enjolras' and it was so strange that in the space of just a few days, he had a son, a five year old son. Who hadn't known him for years, well, at all. He had read, he had heard and he had defended far too many mothers who had been left without any support from the father of their children and he was not going to become one of them, and it would also be a scandal the family really did not need.

So he took the boy in because that's what he should do, and to be honest, Enjolras really struggled with being a father. He enrolled Connor at his old school, where he would be under the tutelage of New York's best teachers from a young age. He excelled in athletics, rowing and maths, which surprised Enjolras because he had always thought that combination was rather unusual. His father however, Arthur Enjolras, could not accept that his only son had a child out of wedlock (despite his marital indiscretions) and ordered that the pair were married. Enjolras compromised, asking Amelia to move in with him.

They had an interesting weekend, trying to childproof his apartment, he had too many sharp edges on his tables, and he was just asking for something to be broken with the amount of glass sculptures around his they had managed to make a fantastic room for Connor whose bed closely resembled a ferrari (Amelia's request) and had a sturdy desk in the corner - everyone needed the serious boring parent and Enjolras was basically built for the role. Soon enough he found himself down on one knee proposing to Amelia because that's what lawyers from New York do, they marry the mothers of their children.

"You're getting married" Eponine whispered running her hand over his ring finger "wow."

"I know" he laughed "I'm as surprised as you are."

"I don't know" Eponine said softly, watching Enjolras' son as he played on a gameboy "I just never expected this, from you."

"Are you upset?"

She didn't reply.

They spent the day with Connor, showing him the island, which he loved. They went up to Mt. Morton, where Enjolras told Conner that if he looked close enough, he could see where the ocean met the sky. They went down to the beach, even though it was winter and far too cold to swim. It was a windy day, and the sand was whipping their legs so Enjolras carried Conner across the beach and Eponine was surprised, she never thought he would be seemed to be a natural father.

Dinner was at _The Jetty, _Eponine worked the dinner shift, even thought it was rather quiet, Connor and Enjolras shared a seafood platter and chips and talked about what all five year olds and their father's talk about, football and school. Enjolras was not a liar, he never wanted this child, but Connor was his and was so strange how instantaneous love could be, when he realise someone was his this affection, this need to protect, and support came from somewhere deep inside of him, from somewhere he never even knew existed. It was the most incredible feeling, a feeling which gave him purpose, a will to live.

He tried to remember how he fell in love with Eponine, but the truth is that he really doesn't remember a time when he wasn't in love with her. His feelings had crept up on him, and for a long time he hadn't even realised they were there. However, once he had realised how he felt, he couldn't hide his feelings, at least not as well as she could. While they were eating dinner his eyes kept on drifting over to her as she dashed around the restaurant, as she ran the pass, ordering waiters in all directions. He was proud of her, and how she had saved the restaurant. She looked beautiful in the glow of the soft lights around the pass, so beautiful and now, so, so painfully out of reach.

Perhaps things could have been different, but he would never give his son up for anything, he just wished Eponine could be more than just someone on the periphery of his life. And perhaps things didn't have to be different, but Enjolras was working hard and putting in the effort to not be his father, because no child should have been forced to grow up as quickly as he did.

Once the restaurant had closed they went back to Enjolras' huge home, and as Connor ran through the home, looking for a dvd for them to watch, the house seemed alive. Connor eventually settled on Tarzan, his favourite movie and Eponine loved the soundtrack. However, after what had been a very eventful day, Connor was asleep not even halfway through the film. Enjolras carried him to one of the spare rooms and put him to bed.

"This is actually a really good movie" Eponine said once Enjolras returned "seriously."

"I believe you" he smiled settling down next to her.

"Are you excited?" Eponine asked softly.

"For what?"

"For the future, for having a son, getting married, bringing them up her, summers with your son, teaching him how to sail, how to surf."

He didn't reply, noticing how he eyes were shining even though she was trying to blink the tears away. He tilted her head toward his, looking deep into her dark eyes, which were a little red from the tears which she had ensured did not fall. He couldn't reply, because he did not want to hear his own answer, he did not want to say it out loud. So he kissed her, so he didn't have to reply and so she would still understand.

"Oh Enjolras" she whispered, resting her forehead against his "you city men, completely incapable of remaining faithful." He ignored her, leaning forward to catch her lips against his, but she turns away. "I don't care who or what is forcing you into this marriage, but Connor deserves a childhood and Amelia sounds sweet. I am not going to do this to them. You're getting married Enjolras."

All he could do was watch as she gathered up her things and left.

* * *

_**viii. When they stopped counting**_

The wedding never actually happened.

Over a year had passed since the initial engagement, which Eponine came down to the city for. It was held at one of the nicer restaurants in town, and was a rather small affair with just close friends and family. Eponine was forced to maneuver her way past several paparazzi in order to enter into the restaurant, taking a seat between Jehan and Combeferre (who was smugly expecting to be appointed best man - he was.) It was only after Enjolras' father arrived that Eponine realised that no, Beyonce was not sitting in the restaurant, the photographers were there to capture the engagement. Eponine had always known that Enjolras' family was important, but she had never really viewed them as famous.

She hadn't seen Enjolras' father for years, but he smiled warmly at her and took his seat beside his son. She hadn't seen his father smile like that, in all of her memory, he looked so proud, he was practically glowing. Amelia was beautiful, with bright blue eyes and deep red hair, her skin was like porcelain and together, they looked perfect. Courfeyrac and Combeferre both brought their girlfriends with them, and they were nice enough for a quiet afternoon lunch. Though they were both absolutely fascinated at how Eponine lived by the ocean, for some reason, they struggled to comprehend that not everyone living in seaside towns were temporary residents, but they were nice enough. It was just Eponine and Jehan still single out of the group, and Jehan was thinking of making a pact with Eponine, if none of them were married or at least settled with a partner in ten years, they would get married. You see, Jehan really wanted kids one day, but in his plan Eponine would need to move down to New York, the more he mulled over it, he realised it was a terrible idea. Eponine was one of those people, an unmovable force, she had set up her home, she had built up her restaurant, and she wasn't going to leave it for anything or anyone.

The restaurant was going even better than Eponine could have imagined. The seasonal menu kept customers coming back, eager for a new meal, which they would everytime. Through small modifications, and constant brainstorming and experimentation they had a constant stream of regular customer and people from the city coming up to try the exciting new restaurant. Last year, they had been awarded best restaurant on the Eastern Seaboard, and that had increased it's customers by over fifty percent. When Eponine took over the restaurant, she thought she could improve it, perhaps bring it back to it's peak when her parent's ran it, but this had surpassed her wildest expectations.

She had just said goodbye to her first group of employees. Seven of ten kids went to universities across the country, which was amazing considering they were from such a small town, where it was once rare to have children, let alone children who were getting marks high enough to get into universities. Whilst Eponine did not say it out loud, she did take some of the credit, the highest achieving kids had been out of her diner, the discipline and responsibility she expected from her workers, as well as the way she would listen to their ideas bred creativity and confidence in her workers, and that was something she was proud of.

Of course, things had not run perfectly, without disruption, just last year there was a fire in one of the kitchens, which closed the restaurant for just over a week. And just a few weeks before the engagement, they finally solved an issue which had been plaguing them for the past three months. Money was going missing from the tills, and they couldn't figure out who it was. However, Arnold was darting out of the kitchen, midway through service when he saw Amy, one of the new fifteen year olds slipping money into her apron rather than into the register. Her parents had been struggling for money for almost six months now, and were running the risk of losing their home. Eponine felt bad for the girl, she really did, but she couldn't have workers stealing from her, and promptly fired her. Their family left the area soon after. You see, that is the side of Hamilton Isle that the tourists didn't see. Those holiday makers, with their multimillion dollar properties were not representative of the Isle as a whole. Without the tourists, and without their money, many of the families which were permanent residents struggled to survive, however, if you went there during the summer, you would have never guessed it.

Things had changed for Cosette too, she had twins in the Spring which had really surprised them when they found out. Yes, they had been trying to get pregnant for quite sometime now however they wanted to take things slow. Have a child, live in the city for a few more years and then move out to the suburbs to expand their families. The didn't want twins, not yet anyway. However, whilst they were unexpected, Cosette and Marius made do with the situation and moved out to the suburbs, though no more than fifteen minutes from work which was in the city centre. Marius had just received a promotion at work and Cosette decided to stay home with the twins, at least until they were settled into a childcare centre. They wanted them in at The Charlesworth Academy, where preschoolers would begin writing and mathematics at age three, as well as learning German and Mandarin. Sometimes Cosette thought that starting the children's education at such a young age was a little excessive however, Marius had been educated that way and he insisted that it was best. Cosette conceded because, well, Marius really didn't get things his way too often, in their relationship, and sometimes she felt a little guilty, a little.

Enjolras had been working on a case for over a year. It was a highly publicised case, the wife of the city's most successful property developer had gone missing, she was found a week later under a bridge, dead. He knew it was the husband, everyone did based on the pure fact that women are almost always killed by their significant other. But they had no physical evidence, absolutely everything was circumstantial and they found themselves relying on the jury, to convict her murderer. However, Enjolras hated juries, because they didn't understand the law. "Beyond reasonable doubt", what exactly was reasonable doubt many jurors ask themselves, because to be honest, it can be rather complex for those who did not work in the industry. However, the fact there was no physical evidence and that "beyond reasonable doubt" is often interpreted as "beyond any doubt" resulted in her murderer walking free. He was walking home and her name just wouldn't leave his mind. It repeated over and over again, and she could see her face, how they found her and it made him sick, though not as sick as the idea of her murderer walking free.

He got to the foyer in his apartment building and was waiting for the elevator when he realised that, he really didn't want to go upstairs, he wanted to relax, he wanted to go home, but it didn't seem like home anymore. The elevator was taking an eternity to arrive and the longer he waited there, the more he wondered, how he even got himself into this position. How did he let his life spiral so out of control. He wasn't in love. He could tolerate Amelia, there was nothing wrong with her but he was not in love with her, she was not magnetic, she did not set him on fire, not the way Eponine did and he soon found himself in the car and driving out of the city. He found himself atop of Mount Morton, staring out into the ocean and there was something about the sea air that was comforting. Perhaps the city was too claustrophobic because on the peak of Mount Morton everything made sense, he could think clearly, and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

Amelia knew when he got home, four hours later than usual what had happened, and to be honest, she really was not surprised because she knew what love felt like, and she wasn't feeling it from him. She had never gotten in touch with Enjolras with the intention of marrying, it had never been part of her plan but like everything since she had gotten to New York, it just happened. Their son would be fine, as long as both of his parent remained in his life, they didn't need to be married and she was fine with that, Connor's parents loved him, and that's all a child needed.

For once, whilst things seemed to be coming down around him, Enjolras felt like he was in complete control, for the first time in what seemed like forever. He drove back up to Hamilton Isle, though he cannot remember the drive, what lights he stopped for, what cars he gave way to, in fact, thinking about it, he's surprised he even made it there alive. After what seemed like an eternity, Enjolras' car pulled into a carpark out the front of _The Jetty_, he could see Eponine darting around the restaurant, like she always did during dinner service.

When he entered the diner she looked up, her smile fading and her eyes widening; Cosette had obviously told her about the dis-engagement. He didn't even care, he needed to talk to Eponine, now, and preferably in private, because Eponine was Eponine and even after all these years, she was impossible to read.

"Enjolras, is everything okay?" she asked as he pulled her urgently upstairs.

"Yeah, yeah everything is fine, I- I just want to talk to you about something. Okay, please sit down, I need to tell you something" he was digging through his pockets, trying to find the note which he had scribbled together during the drive up to Hamilton Isle, as he pulled it out of his pocket, he realised just how dangerous his drive must have been? Seriously, how did he make it?

"I've read or heard somewhere that love should set you free, and when I am with you, I am free. Eponine, I have spent my whole life looking for the right moment to tell you this, but the truth is, there is never the right moment. Because outside of movies and music, moments don't exist, they do not appear, moments in life are laboured and manufactured, they are never natural, so I have stopped looking for them. Eponine, I am in love with you, I have been for as long as I can remember, and I have wasted too much time waiting for the right moment. Eponine" his voice was strained "I'm in love with you, I always have been and I'm pretty sure I always will be. When I think of home, I think of you and I don't care that you live up here and I live in the city, because for me, and perhaps for everyone, home is not a physical place, for me, home is with you." He didn't look up from the paper once he started reading, almost not wanting to see her expression as he poured his heart out to her.

She stood up from the table and pulled him into a tight hug and he rested his head atop of hers "took you long enough didn't it?"

* * *

**AN: Hello everyone, this is the last chapter, thank you to everyone who has read and followed this little fic over the past few months, a special thank you to those who have commented, because it is your kind words that motivate me to write. Thank you.**

**Please let me know what you thought of the ending, your favourite parts from the chapter or from the whole story itself, please remember that comments and constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

**If you have enjoyed what you have read, feel free to check out some of my other work, or follow me on tumblr (it is my penname with the usual tumblr ending).**

**I am hoping to have a rather depressing exe oneshot out later this week/ next week, otherwise keep an eye out for my next monster fic The Heist which should start release in a few months.**

**Thanks again.**


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